Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah dies

[Bosonic]

Source: BBC

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has died in hospital, state TV says.

The announcement, made early on Friday, said his brother, Salman, had become king.

Before the announcement, Saudi television cut to Koranic verses, which often signifies the death of a senior royal.

King Abdullah, who was said to be aged about 90, had been in hospital for several weeks suffering from a lung infection.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-30945324

---

King Abdullah passes away: official Saudi TV

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jan-23/285050-king-abdullah-passes-away-official-saudi-tv.ashx?src=iPhone

[Mika]

1. Time for an election?

[Fred Sanders]

4. LOL. Time for some more jailing and public flogging of bloggers more like it.

This is going to be awkward.

Oily friend or systemic human rights abuse foe?

[Jackpine Radical]

9. Uh--Beats me, Ferdinand.

[Octafish]

16. I know that voice...

Ah, gee, Tennessee!

[Hubert Flottz]

32. I guess Joe LIEberman will have to take up the slack now.

I'd hate to see what Jeb was doing underneath that robe that day!

[Octafish]

34. Ignorance and Want

....It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the Christmas Holidays appeared to be condensed into the space of time they passed together. It was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a children’s Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey.

“Are spirits’ lives so short?” asked Scrooge.

“My life upon this globe, is very brief,” replied the Ghost. “It ends to-night.”

“To-night!” cried Scrooge.

“To-night at midnight. Hark! The time is drawing near.”

The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment.

“Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,” said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit’s robe, “but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw?”

“It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it,” was the Spirit’s sorrowful reply. “Look here.”

From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment.

“Oh, Man! look here. Look, look, down here!” exclaimed the Ghost.

They were a boy and girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread.

Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude.

“Spirit! are they yours?” Scrooge could say no more.

“They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!” cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. “Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And bide the end!”

“Have they no refuge or resource?” cried Scrooge.

“Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. “Are there no workhouses?”

The bell struck twelve.

Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and saw it not. As the last stroke ceased to vibrate, he remembered the prediction of old Jacob Marley, and lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn Phantom, draped and hooded, coming, like a mist along the ground, towards him.

CONTINUED...

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm

[Hubert Flottz]

53. "Compassionate" Republicanism, in truth, is total Scroogism.

Thank you for posting. Reminded me of Frank Zappa's 'The Torture Never Stops'

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. Time for a PURGE....

Some prince is about to kill a bunch of dad's advisors.

[Aquavit]

50. You don't VOTE for King!

[DonCoquixote]

2. no sadly

more like time for many to start trying to go for the throne, including isis.

[Fred Sanders]

3. Before we could bring him to the ICC for crimes against humanity, too bad.

[oberliner]

5. Saudis on Twitter deny rumours King Abdullah dead

(Reuters) - A Saudi journalist and a member of the royal family denied rumours on Thursday that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, in hospital since December suffering from pneumonia, had died, according to messages on social media.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/01/22/saudi-king-idINKBN0KV2O220150122

[Brother Buzz]

7. The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) is the official news agency of Saudi Arabia has confirmed his death

[Fred Sanders]

8. I am going with SPA over Twitter. Who is next in line to take the Oily Throne of The Overlords of Saud?

[jaysunb]

17. Prince Salman, his half brother

who has been acting head of State since December.

[Ramses]

11. Twitter isnt a reliable news source

[Brother Buzz]

14. That twitter was based on a real, but early story

I suspect the Saudi journalist and a member of the royal family was given marching orders to buy some time until all members of the Royal family could be notified and get their ducks in a row.

[Ramses]

21. You may be correct, but twitter is still not a reliable news source.

For your reasons given, false and/or misleading information is given out on twitter accounts all the time, even official ones. That is why I stated twitter is not a reliable news source

[Bosonic]

20. I think this announcement may have broken Twitter

It's definitely gone unresponsive contemporaneously.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Washington Post had a breaking from AP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-state-tv-reports-king-abdullah-has-died-at-90/2015/01/22/ea847190-a28d-11e4-91fc-7dff95a14458_story.html

[ColesCountyDem]

10. Will Crown Prince Salman serve, or agree to let Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin become king?

Crown Prince Salman is in terrible health, as well, and Abdullah appointed Muqrin as Deputy Crown Prince last spring.

[Fred Sanders]

12. Who's got the biggest private militia?

[happyslug]

46. King's Abudullah's son commands the Saudi National Guard, who now have tanks.

The commander of the Saudi National Guard is the son of King Abdullah, who is the only son of King Saud I (who died in 1952) to Abdullah's mother. (King Saud had several wives, and the infighting is between these half brothers AND their adult Children).

King Saud I is also referred to as King Abdulaziz ibn Saud i.e King Abdulaziz son of Saud.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Saud

King Abdullah official name was King Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz, King Abdullah son o Abdulaziz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutaib_bin_Abdullah

King Abdullah or his son had controlled the National Guard for since at least the 1970s and has 100,000 men in the National Guard, who, unlike the US National Guard, a full time active unit. In addition the Guard had 25,000 men it can call into full time service from various tribes loyal to Abdullah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabian_National_Guard

On the other hand the Saudi Arabian Army, of roughly 150,000 men has always been controlled by the Sudairi Seven, the seven sons of King Saud I from his wide Sudairi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudairi_Seven

King Fahd, the predecessor to King Abdullah, was one of the Sudairi Seven, two other of these brother had died, leaving four alive, including the new King. King Salman, King Abdullah's successor. King Salman is presently 79 years of age:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_of_Saudi_Arabia

In previous posts I had gone into details about the house of Saud and I see no reason to repeat what I wrote previously, but if you want to read those earlier posts here are their cites. Many of these have duplicate cites but they give you an idea of what this death means:

From 2013:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=640342

From August 2014:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=867694

June 2014:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017196888#post3

From December 2014, where I even included a chart on the House of Saud:

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=960879

October 2013:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=628856

Form November 2013 where I go into how dictatorships decline and fall after after about three generations:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=656998

In 2012 I started this by comparing Saudi Arabia of 2012 with the Soviet Union of the 1970s and 1980s::

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=17990

Here is my comment on the Iranian-Saudi cold war from 2013:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014359561#post3

Report of the 2013 sell of German Leopard II tanks to Saudi Arabia for its National Guard AND why it was done, when the Saudis already had US M1 tanks (i.e. preparing to fight it out, the National Guard was NOT going to wait for US Tanks, they wanted modern TANKS in 2013 to fight the M1 tanks of the Saudi Army):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/http/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x597969

[roamer65]

39. Muqrin reportedly wanted The IAF to bomb Iran.

He reportedly tried to create a Saudi air defense "blind spot" that the IAF could sneak through to bomb Iran.

A war between Iran and SA will be coming soon, unless ISIS moves in first.

[Fred Sanders]

48. Saudi and Israel act as if they are allies. Interesting.

[Jesus Malverde]

13. good riddance...nt

[LiberalArkie]

15. The only thing that comes to mind is "Let the games begin"

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

18. He was our "ally"

Never mind that he flogged and beheaded his own people, you'll never hear an American president call the Saudis the brutal dictators that they are.

Good riddance, and may he rot in hell.

[MFrohike]

19. Huey's back?

Really bad joke, sorry.

[Douglas Carpenter]

22. This all coud get messy. With the sons of Abdul Aziz all dying or in extremely ill health an

Internal power struggle could break out. I realize many people here think the fall from power of the House of Saud would be a wonderful thing. The reality is that there would be extreme chaos and instability that would reverberate throughout the region and around the world for a long time to come.

[Efilroft Sul]

25. Sheikh kicked off, sheikh kicked off…

Yeah, go ahead and alert me.

'Cause the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.

[Bosonic]

26. Biog of Salman ('new' king) mentions he's 79 with suspected Alzheimer's/Dementia

Probably not a keeper then.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_of_Saudi_Arabia#Health

[IDemo]

28. That wasn't a disqualifier in recent American history n/t

[YoungDemCA]

27. Wikipedia article on the new King

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_of_Saudi_Arabia

[oberliner]

29. Who will the US send to his funeral?

Saudi Arabia is, ostensibly, an ally.

[YoungDemCA]

30. A member of the Bush Family would seem fitting

Considering...well, you know...

[Arcadiasix]

31. Probably VP Biden

[Hubert Flottz]

33. They should send Dick Cheney...

on a one way ticket.

[Fred Sanders]

49. The Ambassador to Saudi Arabia will do just fine, if America must.

[jmowreader]

35. Send the president and eleven off this list

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/obamajews.html

[oberliner]

36. Why them?

I don't understand. Can you clarify?

[jmowreader]

37. They're Jewish.

If there's anyone who deserves a hearty Fuck You at his funeral, it's a Saudi dictator.

[Fred Sanders]

51. Saudi is allied with Israel against Iran, is my understanding.

[Nobel_Twaddle_III]

38. Will westboro baptist church protest ?

That would be fun !
but
Probably not going to happen in this version of the universe.

[onehandle]

40. The King of financing 9/11 died?

No shit?

[daleo]

41. I wonder how this will affect the price of oil?

I suspect that internal Saudi politics has been a key factor in the recent price manipulations.

[proud patriot]

42. RIP old dude

[RandySF]

43. Have a nice trip south.

[Loge23]

44. It's not nice to talk badly about the dead...

...but I'll make an exception in this bag of shit's case.
Tomorrow, Friday, is scheduled to be the second of 20 - 20! - public floggings (read: severe beatings) of a freakin' blogger for God's sakes! If there's any mercy in this fucked-up world, the poor guy will follow King Shit and give him the final push into the depths of hell.
King Shit, an ally of the evilest warlords and obscene profiteers of the former United States of America, actually presided over a country that only acknowledges the current calender date with their collection of any and everything elite. Otherwise they preside over the stone age: beheading, flogging, and subjugating females as public entertainment.
But not to worry, stone heads! Another King Shit sadist bastard will assume the throne while so-called American leaders line up to kiss his ring.
Allies?! Of whom? 3,000 victims of 9-11 may know the answer if there is an afterlife - and let's hope there's not after this sunny joy ride to hell.
One less piece of shit on the planet.

[MelissaB]

45. That's just great! My brother is in Saudi and this guy was the "liberal" and his brother is more

religious. He expects that things are going to get worse there.

[happyslug]

47. Here a list of previous threads on this possibilities. most with cites that can help you understand:

The commander of the Saudi National Guard is the son of King Abdullah, who is the only son of King Saud I (who died in 1952) to Abdullah's mother. (King Saud had several wives, and the infighting is between these half brothers AND their adult Children).

King Saud I is also referred to as King Abdulaziz ibn Saud i.e King Abdulaziz son of Saud.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Saud

King Abdullah official name was King Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz, King Abdullah son o Abdulaziz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutaib_bin_Abdullah

King Abdullah or his son had controlled the National Guard for since at least the 1970s and has 100,000 men in the National Guard, who, unlike the US National Guard, a full time active unit. In addition the Guard had 25,000 men it can call into full time service from various tribes loyal to Abdullah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabian_National_Guard

On the other hand the Saudi Arabian Army, of roughly 150,000 men has always been controlled by the Sudairi Seven, the seven sons of King Saud I from his wide Sudairi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudairi_Seven

King Fahd, the predecessor to King Abdullah, was one of the Sudairi Seven, two other of these brother had died, leaving four alive, including the new King. King Salman, King Abdullah's successor. King Salman is presently 79 years of age:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_of_Saudi_Arabia

In previous posts I had gone into details about the house of Saud and I see no reason to repeat what I wrote previously, but if you want to read those earlier posts here are their cites. Many of these have duplicate cites but they give you an idea of what this death means:

From 2013:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=640342

From August 2014:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=867694

June 2014:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017196888#post3

From December 2014, where I even included a chart on the House of Saud:

http://metamorphosis.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=960879

October 2013:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=628856

Form November 2013 where I go into how dictatorships decline and fall after after about three generations:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=656998

In 2012 I started this by comparing Saudi Arabia of 2012 with the Soviet Union of the 1970s and 1980s::

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1127&pid=17990

Here is my comment on the Iranian-Saudi cold war from 2013:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014359561#post3

Report of the 2013 sell of German Leopard II tanks to Saudi Arabia for its National Guard AND why it was done, when the Saudis already had US M1 tanks (i.e. preparing to fight it out, the National Guard was NOT going to wait for US Tanks, they wanted modern TANKS in 2013 to fight the M1 tanks of the Saudi Army):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/http/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x597969

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

52. "That's awful"..... said no one..... OK maybe some of his relatives.... just some. nt